One day, when I was thinking about the ups and downs of the Qi mechanism, I suddenly thought of the hot and sour soup we often eat, and I will talk to you today.
In the history of Chinese medicine, ancient physicians have been thinking about how to be the most effective and how to fundamentally regulate the human body. Everyone has different ideas, so there are many schools of thought. Among them, conditioning from the spleen and stomach is an important faction.
One of the founders of this school should be Li Dongyuan. At that time, Li Dongyuan learned from his teacher Zhang Yuanyuan. Zhang Yuanyuan founded the Yishui School. This school pays attention to the spleen and stomach, and it was later called "the king of medicine".
Before this, in the theoretical framework of traditional Chinese medicine, all aspects of the body were actually discussed, but it was Li Dongyuan who emphasized the importance of the spleen and stomach and wrote a famous book "On the Spleen and Stomach".
There is a saying in traditional Chinese medicine, which is called "the kidney is the innate foundation of human beings, and the spleen and stomach are the source of acquired biochemistry". This innate kidney qi is inherited from parents. In fact, a person's endowment is basically determined at birth. , how we grow later on, the key is to look at the spleen and stomach, because the material source of our acquired growth is mainly absorbed from the spleen and stomach.
Therefore, everyone can imagine how important this school of theory is. Strictly speaking, I also believe in this school of theory.
In the human body, the upper part is yang and the lower part is yin, which corresponds to the nature. Yang qi goes down and yin qi goes up, which constitutes the ups and downs of human qi. If you look at the Bagua diagram, you will find that A white fish that represents yang must have its head down, and a black fish that represents yin must have its head up. This is the reason.
Between yin and yang is the middle qi. This middle qi is our spleen and stomach, which belongs to the earth, and the earth is in the center.
This is what Huang Yuanyu, a physician in the Qing Dynasty, paid special attention to. In his works written throughout his life, we can see that he particularly emphasized the pivotal function of the spleen and stomach. He believed that if the spleen and stomach were weak, the whole person's qi movement would rise and fall. The problem is, if the middle qi is undefeated, the human body will be full of vitality. If the spleen and stomach are weak, the water will flood and the soil will be damp, the middle qi will be deficient, the qi and blood will be deficient, and various diseases will arise. Therefore, Huang Yuanyu's treatment of diseases mostly starts with the regulation of the spleen and stomach, so that the human body's middle soil can be transported well, and the ascending and descending will return to normal, then the qi and blood will be full, the meridians will be regulated, and the disease will go away.
Let me give you an example first.
This is a young man who found me through a friend and told me about his condition when no one was around.
It turned out that he started masturbating when he was in middle school. He may have been exposed to some pornographic things at that time, and the result was out of control. For a period of time, he had it almost every day. In this way, when he was young, the problem came. He found that My body began to be in a mess, for example: physical strength is not good, a little exercise makes me sweat profusely, panting, I don’t look like a young man in his twenties; the whole body is uneven, and I often feel cold in the waist and legs, but the upper body I always get angry, and often have oral ulcers in my mouth; I am always in a bad mood, restless, restless, unable to concentrate, and feel confused when thinking about problems; I have a strong sexual desire, but my function is not good, and I can hardly complete my sex life with my girlfriend , and finally broke up (he himself felt that he could not give people happiness, so he took the initiative to break up), etc. In short, I can hardly describe his symptoms. He told me for a long time, but he didn't finish it. I guess it's average. Most people may not have the patience to listen.
His medical experience was also very tortuous. In the end, some doctors almost said that he had a mental illness. According to my analysis, it is normal to have a slight mental disorder, but the physical problem is the main one. Now he has too many problems, which makes him suffer. People feel that these questions are not real.
Now, he is so distressed that he doesn't want to live, because life is gloomy, will he be able to start a family in the future? This is a big shadow in his heart, and the long-term treatment has no effect, and it makes him almost desperate. Is he going to spend his life like this?
I looked at this young man's face, and felt very sad. I thought, if he knew the situation today, he would not have chosen to masturbate excessively.
can i help him
In fact, I have seen many such young men. In my mailbox, there are many netizens who hope to get help. They cannot find help in the real world, so they pin their hopes on the Internet, because at least they can Telling their own privacy, they may not be able to tell outsiders in normal times. Many emails are long and need to be printed out. Their symptoms are all kinds of strange, but they are basically similar to the young man in front of them.
I opened up the traditional Chinese medicines he had taken, and saw that they were all kidney-tonifying medicines, such as Morinda officinalis, Epimedium, Cuscuta and other medicines, all of which were in large doses and took a long time, but the effect was mediocre.
This is a common way of thinking in the treatment of such diseases, isn't it caused by masturbation? Then the kidney qi has been damaged, so it is necessary to invigorate the kidney. However, these kidney-tonifying medicines also help yang. As a result, the patient's sexual desire is more vigorous, and the fire often rises and falls.
In the words of this young man, every time he changes a doctor, he always sees some effect at the beginning, but after a few side effects, it doesn't work, and some new symptoms appear.
So, how should we regulate this disease? Strictly speaking, this should not be regarded as a disease. It should be that this young man has problems with his whole body. The so-called various diseases are numerous, and generally there is no way to deal with them, especially the kidney tonifying has no effect. too much.
However, the medical sage Zhang Zhongjing provided us with ideas. Zhang Zhongjing discussed that this kind of "loss of sperm" impotence patients, as well as women's "dream intercourse" patients (that is, women always have some sexual dreams), Zhang Zhongjing thinks This is all caused by deficiency, which can be recuperated with Guizhi Longgu Oyster Soup.
What kind of thinking is this? This is a way to regulate the spleen and stomach and supplement the Qi in the middle. Zhang Zhongjing gave us a prescription, but we can't stick to this prescription. We have to understand that what Zhang Zhongjing gave us is a way of thinking.
The idea is: in many cases, it is not enough to simply nourish the kidney. At this time, the spleen and stomach are replenished, and the middle qi is replenished, then the problem will be solved, because after all, our acquired growth depends on the nutrition absorbed by the spleen and stomach. The spleen and stomach are strong. Then people can have vitality.
This Guizhi Decoction was called "Xiaoyangdan Decoction" before Zhang Zhongjing. For the spleen and stomach, add astragalus, called Huangqi Jianzhong Decoction, which also nourishes the spleen and stomach and regulates the middle Qi. Therefore, the idea of the whole prescription is to supplement the spleen and stomach. Zhang Zhongjing used this Guizhi decoction plus keel and oysters to treat this deficiency. Adding keel and oysters can have astringent effect, so that the supplementary medicine will not dissipate.
I used this idea to recuperate this young man. Medicines for invigorating the kidneys were useless. I used Guizhi Longgu Oyster Soup to add flavor, and the medicine used was basically for the spleen and stomach. As a result, within a short period of time, the young man’s physique It improved in an all-round way. It took about 20 days in total, and he felt that he had no symptoms. Later, I prescribed some diet therapy for him. I don’t know if he took it later. I didn’t. ask.
This young man became very sunny later. It has been almost two years since this happened, and we still keep in touch occasionally. He has always been very good. When his friends saw him, they felt that he seemed to be a different person, so they returned Someone begged him to introduce me to them because I was too busy to get to know them afterwards.
This is an example I chose for quicker results. Some people will take a longer time to recuperate. However, most patients with this kind of deficiency can still obtain very good results by recuperating the spleen and stomach.
This is a very good way of thinking in Chinese medicine, that is, when a person has many problems, complicated symptoms, and it is difficult to deal with it, we must grasp the main contradiction. Isn't the spleen and stomach belong to the earth and are in the middle? Let's grasp it. After the healthy movement of the Middle Earth, the air mechanism will be adjusted up and down, the yin and yang will be harmonious, and the water and fire will be harmonious, then the body will recover by itself, and some minor problems will be solved by the body itself. However, if we don't If you are good at solving problems and go straight to the trivial symptoms, then you will be confused, you can care about the east, but you can't care about the west, and you will eventually lose in the face of so many complicated symptoms.
Zhang Zhongjing left us a recipe called Xiaojianzhong Decoction, which is Guizhi Decoction plus caramel (sugar like sorghum syrup), and double the amount of peony. This is called Xiaojianzhong Decoction. Licorice, ginger, jujube, and maltose are the main prescriptions Zhang Zhongjing uses to regulate the spleen and stomach. I also often use this prescription to treat spleen and stomach diseases. So, what's the secret in this recipe?
We joked that this is a hot and sour soup. We have experience in life, that is, when our appetite is not good, if we go to a restaurant and ask for a bowl of hot and sour soup, after drinking it, our appetite will suddenly increase. Appetite boosted, why is this? Let’s look at Xiaojianzhong soup again. The cinnamon sticks and ginger in the recipe are spicy, and the peony is sour. This is also a hot and sour soup, while the roasted licorice, jujube, and caramel are sweet. The reason is:
Pungent medicines radiate outward and rise upwards. The Yellow Emperor's Internal Classic says that "sweetness and sweetness diverge into yang"; while sour medicinal properties go downward and are absorbed inward. The Yellow Emperor's Internal Classic says: " Sourness and bitterness pour out into yin", in this way, there will be lifting, retracting and releasing, and yin and yang, so that the spleen and stomach will be opened, and the air mechanism will flow. This is the reason why hot and sour soup can appetize. Xiao Jianzhong This is also the case with soup. The sweet medicine in the prescription is to nourish the spleen and stomach. So this recipe is the same as hot and sour soup, it can open the spleen and stomach and restore its function, the spleen and stomach can absorb it, the energy in the middle will be sufficient, and the human body will have a chance to recover, so this recipe is called Jianzhong soup. In the past, people didn’t pay much attention to the meaning. When I explain it here, everyone will understand. Generally, when people talk about Guizhi Decoction, they only talk about harmonizing Yingwei, so I’ll talk more about it here.
Emphasizing the spleen and stomach is also the reason why Huang Yuanyu, a physician in the Qing Dynasty, made great achievements. He was hurt by bitter cold medicine, so he knew the importance of protecting the spleen and stomach. He has been thinking about this issue all his life, and finally he Starting from the spleen and stomach, it regulates the ups and downs of qi, so it has achieved very good curative effect, and also achieved a breakthrough in theory.
When Chinese medicine treats diseases, there is a saying that "if there is stomach qi, there will be life, and if there is no stomach qi, there will be death". (It is the artery at the highest point on the dorsum of the foot). Here we can wait for the life and death of stomach qi. If there is still stomach qi, then the person can still be saved. If there is no stomach qi, then the consequences may be very bad. From here we also It can be seen that the spleen and stomach are important.
Originally, I was going to talk about hot and sour soup today. I have talked about so many medical principles. What I want to tell you is:
First: the spleen and stomach are very important;
Second, the nature and flavor of traditional Chinese medicine are very important. If the pungent flavor is used to diverge and the sour flavor is used to restrain it, the stagnation of the spleen and stomach can be opened, and the qi mechanism can be restored.
Then let’s talk about hot and sour soup. This soup is eaten by Chinese people. It is mainly boiled with pepper and vinegar. Pepper is spicy and has the effect of warming and dispelling cold, but spicy food is divergent. Vinegar is astringent, which can make the divergence not too much. When these two flavors are matched together, everyone understands that there are scattered and closed, rising and falling, which can open up the stagnation of the stomach. Therefore, if you feel that you have a bad appetite recently Well, I can't eat anything, but the hot and sour soup is a good choice.
It seems that the hot and sour soup on our Chinese table is delicious for a reason.
Of course, you can’t just drink hot and sour soup because of kidney deficiency. If you really have such symptoms, you still need to find a doctor to prescribe medicine. However, the principles I mentioned are likely to be used.
